Who are physician-scientists' role models? Gender makes a difference

Purpose To determine for educational purposes whether differences exist in the role models physician-scientists-in-training or in their early years of career development envision when they self-assess their abilities to perform clinical research. Method A 35-item clinical research self-efficacy questionnaire was administered to 251 health care professionals who attended programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 2002-2004. Three questions were included to determine the sex, role, and qualities of the expert that are envisioned by participants. Frequency distributions were computed for each response and variables were compared by gender using chi-square analysis and Fisher exact test. Results Ninety-five physicians-in-training and junior faculty physicians responded to the questionnaire. Seventy-one percent of female and 95% of male respondents reported their envisioned experts to be male. The most frequently reported role of the envisioned expert was that of a mentor who was a faculty member in the respondent's own department (72% women, 60% men). The three most frequently reported qualities of the envisioned expert were "multiple publications," "scientific knowledge," and "supportiveness." However, women more frequently reported "communication skills" and "problem-solving abilities" than did men. This difference was statistically significant and largely due to the frequency of qualities selected by women whose envisioned expert was female. Conclusions The results of this study emphasized the importance of a role model's gender in the career development of physician-scientists.